


Your Eyes Grant Me Solace

by WhereverUAre



Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Discrimination, Fever, Fever Dreams, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Immortal Husbands, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Nicolo whump, Seizures, Sick Character, Sickfic, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25330144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhereverUAre/pseuds/WhereverUAre
Summary: After escaping from London, Nicky and Joe deal with the aftermath of the Merrick experiments far away from their immortal family
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 32
Kudos: 434
Collections: The Old Guard





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yusuf would do anything to keep Nicolo safe. So Yusuf tries, just about anything to keep the man he loves safe.

Joe shifted his grip on Nicky’s waist to get a better grip on the barely conscious man. He could feel the heat rolling off Nicky through his sweat drenched clothes as he dragged him through the dark alleys desperately, sticking to the shadows and avoiding CCTVs.

“Just stay with me, Nicolo. We are almost there.”, Joe mumbled.

Unfortunately, for the old guards, they had quickly dispersed from London after Merrick to dissuade anyone who still sought the secrets of immortality and let the trail go cold. Nicky and Joe had found themselves on route from New York to a small safe house in rural Maine until Nicky woke up on the flight to New York with a blinding headache. His condition deteriorated consistently since they landed from London. Immortals did fall ill, both of them succumbed to many plagues and ailments, over their centuries together, only to wake up alive again. As much as Joe knew that Nicky succumbing to the sickness would let them hit restart, he was fearful after seeing Andy’s wound not heal.

  
Joe desperately tried to figure out a way to get them to find some medical help for Nicky but he could not take Nicky to a hospital, especially not after Merrick. He almost gave up and called Andy for an extraction when he picked up word on the street about a small clinic downtown that might give them shelter until he could figure out how to care for his partner.

  
Just as Joe was about to decide that this clinic was a mirage and he should not have lugged his ailing beloved in the cold, polluted elements of the seediest downtown streets he spotted a small board telling him that he had found the place he was looking for.

“We are here, Nicolo. OK? Just hold on.”

Joe looked at Nicolo, who was clearly incoherent and now sporting a worrying nosebleed from the exertion. Joe winced at the sight of the blood. No matter how many centuries they spilt blood in, Nicolo’s blood always made his insides churn with ice. Freezing fear seized Joe.

Joe burst through the front door into a narrow hallway, heaving his lover’s body as gently as possible.

“Help! He needs help!”

A short woman burst into the hallway, black hair flying out of a bun. She rushed to Nicolo’s side, helped Joe to lay him on the floor gently before taking his pulse and flashing a light into Nicolo’s eyes.

Nicolo groaned weakly, “Sono qui.” Mere seconds later, his eyes rolled back, finally completely unconscious.

Joe’s felt like his heart was trying to escape his chest, he had seen his beloved die innumerable times, but in such sickness, much fewer. He could only cradle Nicolo’s head on his lap and plead for him to wake up. The fatigue of the day vanished, they had faced centuries of torment and destitution for being sodomites. All that seemed to be strong enough to twist joe’s inside like knife of ice was Nicolo’s unconscious, red smeared face, drenched in fevered sweat.

“Nicolo, destati. Destati, per favoure.”, Joe pleaded to no avail, slowly stroking sweat soaked hair.

Nicolo’s chest moved with uneven and laboured breaths, blood still dripping from his nose, albeit much more slowly now.

The woman appeared again in the hallway, this time a gurney and oxygen cylinder in tow.

“Put him on the gurney!” She urged as she fit the mask on Nicolo.

Joe obliged quickly, lifting Nicolo’s weight almost subconsciously. The familiarity of his body oddly calming.

As soon as the soldier was settled on the tiny gurney, looking like a fallen angel, the small woman pushed him down the hallway, through the door she appeared from, Joe jogging anxiously behind her. She seemed to understand that there was no keeping them apart, quickly snapped at Joe to sanitise his hands and get to work, assisting her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusuf finds himself trusting a stranger with saving Nicolo while facing his own fears about the mortality of his soulmate.

Yusuf anxiously helped the doctor strip Nicolo’s sweaty clothes to fit a heart monitor onto Nicolo’s prone body. Dr. Jadhav, he noted, as written on the certificate hanging on the wall efficiently fixed the machine and started on cleaning his nosebleed, taking his temperature and listening to his heart.

Nicolo’s eyes were moving frantically under their shut lids and Yusuf could have sworn that they were mimicking the beating of his racing heart. Yusuf craved nothing more than to climb onto the gurney and hold his love tightly till the fevered tremors stopped wracking him and brush the sweat off his forehead.

Immortality had its price. For Yusuf, it was seeing his worst fear, his Nicolo’s dead body, repeatedly, knowing that one day he will not wake up to him again. It grated his heart every time he saw Nicolo’s empty eyes in a way that would never heal, never stop being a paralyzing fear.

His kind soulmate clearly suffering, lying in some tiny clinic bed was enough to trigger an onslaught of memories that left Yusuf feeling ill. The sight of Nicolo with a bullet shot through his mouth, lying motionless on countless battlefields flashed through Yusuf’s mind. He could not bear the fear he felt in his heart each time he saw Nicolo’s body.

“His fever is really high. How long has he been like this?”, Dr. Jadhav’s sharp voice retrieved Yusuf from his tortured thoughts.

“He woke up around 11am with a blinding headache. He almost never gets them. He threw up thrice after by 6pm and fever slowly building since. Around 8pm he stopped being lucid and was going in and out of consciousness.”, rattled Yusuf.

He knew what was coming next and had to brace himself for whatever needed to be done to ensure that Nicolo got the help he needed.

“Alright, his fever is reaching a dangerous temperature. I am going to draw blood and start him on fluids and broad-spectrum anti-biotics. Any allergies or medical conditions I need to know about?”, Dr. Jadhav shot at him as she quickly prepared the needle to draw blood from the crook of Nicolo’s elbow.

“Doctor, wait.”

The doctor seemed a little thrown off by his interruption. But Yusuf had done this, enough times to know that it was better for her to know before she pushed the needle into Nicolo’s skin rather than discover it once the needle is inside of him and harm him in surprise. His love’s body would try to heal around the needle. For an IV to work on him, they would need thicker and heavier needles so that it would not be pushed out.

“Nicky here, has a rare condition. Extreme clotting or a type of thrombophilia. We will need thicker than average needles to be able to push the medicine through. No allergies or medical conditions that I know of.”

“Alright. You start rubbing him down with some cold water to ease the temperature till the IV kicks in. The nosebleed is because of excessive heat.”

She changed the needle to a much heavier one and got to work. She quickly shot Yusuf a look when the needle was faced with much more resistance than possible.

“You were not lying about the thrombophilia.”

“I would not joke about his health, Doctor.”

The doctor merely nodded sparing a glance to nod in the general direction of the fridge, gesturing for the cold water and wash cloth, when Nicolo roused. Yusuf rushed to the head of the gurney and tried to calm him as Nicolo waved his hand out of the doctor’s grip and tried to push off the offending needle.

“Mi Amor, Nicky, Please. You are safe. You need to let us give you medicine. Please stop.”, Yusuf struggled as Nicolo paid his words no heed and continued to struggle and move off the gurney.

The heart monitors around them seemed to be vibrating off the shelves with the intensity of the noise they were making. Nicolo’s movements were painfully uncoordinated and lethargic and Yusuf could easily restrain him onto the gurney and hold him still, pleading. Nicolo’s eyes were lidded and glassy but shone with the crazed panic of a mad man who did not understand that world transpiring around him.

“You are safe, Mi Amor. You took ill and we are at this kind doctor’s clinic. She is going to help you, but you need to stay still. I know you don’t like needles. Par favoure mi amor. Just stay still for a minute. It will only make you feel better.” Yusuf cooed.

Dr. Jadhav had backed off with the IV needle and was clearly waiting for Yusuf’s say so to resume her ministrations. Yusuf’s heart sunk in when he spared her a glance.

If she had not figured it out so far, the cat was certainly out of the bag now. Nicolo and him were clearly a couple and only god knew the prejudices this doctor held. Yusuf could only think of all the homophobic graffiti and government policies that seemed to be plastered across the city. Having a biracial, homosexual couple in a country that believed in separating and putting them in cages could considerably rub the doctor the wrong way. Nicolo was clearly still too ill to be moved. One problem at a time Yusuf berated himself.

“Mi Amor, are you with me? Do not be afraid.”, Yusuf whispered as he held Nicolo in his arms, wincing from the heat emanating off his body, trying to peer into his tired, fevered eyes.

“Josuf, where?”, Nicolo groaned in a rare moment of lucidity since the illness consumed him. The lethargic of his name was enough for Yusuf to understand that his loved on was far from being in a state to be moved any time soon.

“You are safe, Nicky. It will be ok. I’m here. Just relax, okay?”, Yusuf gently muttered as he nuzzled into his Nicolo’s cheek.

No matter who was watching, Yusuf could no longer hold himself back. It had been hours of sickening worry and no lucid communication from Nicolo. The second he felt Nicolo relax into his arms, having understood his words, Yusuf found a shroud of peace settling on him.

He watched as Nicolo seemed to have expended his last reserve of energy and faded into a fitful sleep. Yusuf slowly eased his arms from around Nicolo and turned to the doctor with a defeated look on his face.

“I know, this is a lot to ask from you, Dr. Jadhav. I don’t want to lie to you and implicate you into something serious or force you to harbour us. However, we have no other place to go. My Nicky needs help and any place other than this seems like signing his death warrant. Please.”

“Mister, I honestly do not care about anything other than helping this sick man and your monologue is kind of interrupting my flow.”, Dr. Jadhav interjected. “I took an oath to help anyone who needs medical help, y’know? Doesn’t change with government policies. All I can do is get this young man back on his feet as quickly as possible and bid you both adieux.”

Yusuf let go of a breath he did not know he was holding. “Thank you, doctor.”, he breathed.

“Yes, yes. Now wash cloth and cold water.”, Dr. Jadhav growled at him, seemingly annoyed by his inability to keep up with her instructions.

Yusuf carefully wrung out the cold water and as gently as possible, began wiping the sweat off his Nicolo. He had done cleaned Nicolo’s body with a cloth millions of times before but could not help but feeling the need to be so gentle, lest his loved one feels any harshness.

“Now, lift him up by the shoulders, I’ll wipe down his back.” Dr. Jadhav urged and approached the task with clinical precision. “We should shift him onto the bed after you are done sponging off the sweat. I still need to fix the IV fluids and antibiotics.”

Yusuf nodded quickly and started carefully pushing the gurney towards the bed on the other end of the small emergency unit. Nicolo barely shifted through the whole process, clearly oblivious to the world.

Dr. Jadhav then quickly got to work. She drew Nicolo’s blood and fixed up two IV bags into the crook of his elbow. As if the sight of Nicolo’s drawn blood was not enough, she pulled out two belts from the side table.

“We need to restrain him. Might wake up delirious and pull out his IV.”, Dr. Jadhav said as she handed one to Yusuf.

“This might not be the best idea, doctor. He does not have the best memories with restraints. I can stay by his bedside as long as it takes for him to be lucid again.”, Yusuf argued.

“Don’t be silly. It could be days before he’s feeling better. If you say that it might trigger a bad reaction though, we can swaddle him in blankets and belt those blankets from around the bed.”

“Sounds like a good compromise, doctor. I will not leave his side as long as possible though.”

“I will insist that you get some rest, but we can easily arrange for you to sleep in this room if you don’t mind sleeping on the floor.”

“I could sleep on the sun’s surface if that meant being close to him when he needs me.”

Dr. Jadhav rolled her eyes at his incurable romanticism with a small size on her face and got to work.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusuf gets a chance to disclose his fears with Nicolo while spending the night at his bedside.

* * *

“He’s going to be resting for a few hours at least. We should get something to eat.”, Dr. Jadhav gestured at Yusuf to follow her. Yusuf tore his eyes away from Nicolo’s prone with utmost difficulty.

Nicolo was not soaked in sweat and thrashing around in the throes of the fever after what seemed like an eternity. The slow rise and fall off his chest, the beeping of the heart monitor seemed to have hypnotised Yusuf, he could watch it for an eternity, lost in the art of its implications. The love of his life was alive and resting and nothing could give him more solace than viewing the proof of it.

Yusuf was about to turn down the doctor’s offer politely to stay by Nicolo’s bedside for just a bit longer but his stomach spoke for him, filling the room with an embarrassing rumble. Sparing one look at his sleeping lover, Yusuf hurried out, determined to return as quickly as possible, noting that he had no reason to doubt the doctor’s intentions thus far.

\--

“Hello, mi amor, my sweet Nicolo, I am back again. The little doctor told me that you are going to sleep through the night and hopefully your fever will go down a little bit, so you will feel better by the morning, okay? I’m right next to you, Nicolo.”, Yusuf mumbled softly as he slowly stroked his love’s hair.

Nicolo had developed a thin coat of sweat by the time Yusuf came back with bedding materials to spend the night on the floor next to his sick bed. They’d slept in much worse conditions but always together and if sleeping on the floor meant Yusuf would be in arm’s reach in Nicolo’s sickness, he would happily do it for a century, Yusuf mused as he pulled up another bowl of cool water to sponge the sweat off of his beloved before sleeping for a few hours.

Immortal or not, they were still subject to human physical limitations like sleep, hunger and sickness. They served as a humbling and grounding influence on the group of soldiers. They were still human, still felt pain. Watching Nicolo so still and pained grieved Yusuf’s heart, clawed at him like a vicious hunger.

Yusuf wrung out the cloth of the icy water before gently wiping the sweat from Nicolo’s forehead. Yusuf frowned as Nicolo’s skin felt a little warmer than it did before he left for his brief meal. Hoping that his voice will ground and comfort Nicolo rather than disturb his rest, Yusuf continued to whisper words of comfort.

“Rest well, mi amor. I will be here when you wake up. Just focus on regaining your strength. I cannot wait to get to Maine. I can’t wait to cook all your favourites for breakfast when we get back.”, Yusuf rattled on till he was satisfied that he had wiped off the sweat from Nicolo’s prone form.

Nicolo had not moved an inch lest for the rise and fall of his chest. Once satisfied that Nicolo was settled in for the night, Yusuf laid down next to the bed. “Being back here reminds me of the last time in New York in the seventies. Remember you had just discovered bell bottom denim pants and were severely disturbed by them.”, Yusuf joked, subconsciously switching between languages and dialects, as lost sleep and the day’s toil entangled him and pulled him under.

\--

Yusuf woke up to the sounds of Nicolo’s pained gasps and stirring in the bed. Nicolo was now sweating profusely, heated gasps escaping him as he struggled to draw air. His body was twisting and turning under the sheets, getting tangled in them, the IV attached to his arm toiling precariously. His fever had clearly spiked in the couple of hours that Yusuf took to rest. Yusuf rushed to still his arm, in fear of him pulling it out in his fever induced turmoil.

Nicolo was groaning in his sleep, in the grips of a cruel fever dream, practically half off the bed before Yusuf caught him and pushed him back on the bed.

“Please. Stop it. Leave us alone. Please. Yusuf. No!” Nicolo shouted, his eyes moving rapidly underneath their lids.

“Nicolo, mi amor, destati. Please wake up. It’s ok. I am here. We are safe.”, Yusuf urged, trying to swallow the panic he was feeling. If he roused Nicolo from his fevered dream, he might feel better, he rationalised. He held down Nicolo’s arms easily, trapping him onto the bed. He eased one of his head under Nicolo’s head and gently shook it, trying to wake him up.

“Baby, I need you here. Please wake up. It pains me to hold you still like this. Please open your eyes for me. Per favoure.” Yusuf begged whilst stroking Nicolo’s cheek with his thumb. He could feel the fever, more vicious than ever before, raging under his skin.

Nicolo stirred. Yusuf exhaled in relief, watching the sight of Nicolo’s half lidded eyes stir.

“Joe, wha.”, Nicolo managed before coughs racked his frame. Yusuf quickly helped him sit up a little, in hopes that it would ease his coughs. He eased the oxygen masks off nicolo’s face and waited for the coughing fit to pass, gently running his hands down his lover’s back. Once satisfied that the fit had passed, Yusuf laid Nicolo against his pillows in a slight incline and held up a glass of water.

“Small sips, per favour, mon ami.”, Yusuf murmured gently as he did not ease the grip on the glass even when Nicolo held onto it. Yusuf after centuries of fighting by Nicolo’s side could not help but treat him with utmost care and sensitivity as if he could disintegrate with a harsh touch. He could not bear Nicolo, his better half, the home of his heart, suffer anymore hardship than need be.

“We are still in New York, my love. You were too sick for us to continue to Maine. We were lucky to find refuge in the clinic till you recover.”, Yusuf answered the questions twinkling in Nicolo’s half lidded fevered eyes who simply nodded back. It immediately cut through Yusuf’s heart. Why was Nicolo so taken by this illness that he did not find the strength to talk. Worry radiated from Yusuf like light from the sun as he returned the oxygen mask onto his face.

“How are you feeling, Nicolo? Please tell me? How can I help you feel better?”, Yusuf rattled, switching between languages again. All eloquence and reassurance left him as sweat and heat poured out off Nicolo, barely able to hold up his neck.

“Sto bene, are you ok? You look tired.”, Nicolo pushed.

Yusuf almost laughed in his lover’s face. He snorted. Nicolo’s heart always overflowed with kindness. His distressed beloved, clearly suffering, woke up and first thought about Yusuf. 

“I will only feel better when you are hale again, Nicolo. Now please. Oblige me with the truth. I’m eager to see you out of the grips of this illness. I cannot see you ail any longer.”

“Just tired and hot. Nightmares about London.” Nicolo managed as he tiredly turned onto his side. Sweat beaded the entire expanse of his back as he huffed out hot air. Yusuf elated finally had a clue about easing his love’s burden. He quickly took to the task of brushing sweat off with cold water, occasionally cleaning Nicolo’s face, resting the cool rag on his eyes.

“London, Nicolo? It was not an easy ordeal. But we are here now. You and I suffered watching each other in pain but we persevered as always. We are far away now, mi amor. You are safe here, in my arms. And I, by your side am blessed with the boons of a thousand angels.”

Nicolo shot him a look. In all their centuries together, he could communicate with Yusuf with just a look. Fevered, tired and hurting did not seem to affect his ability to convey volumes with a glance.

“How do you read me so, Nicolo?”, Yusuf grinned with chagrin as he made Nicolo lie down completely again. He cupped his cheek and stroked it with his thumb, so lovingly.

“Those very thoughts weigh on my mind as well. Every time I shut my eyes the sight of your body on the floor of the Merrick office flashes, jolts me from my sleep even. I do not think I will ever be free of that memory seired onto my eye lids. Even as we came here, the sight of you, ill, with needles being pushed under your skin is agony, my love. I know that we can truly live without pursuing a purpose, using our blessing but I cannot help but want to whisk us away and let humanity rot as long as it means that I will never see you suffer or die again. I am cursed that I always rouse from our deaths before you do. Those minutes, I wait for you to wake, I cannot help but always feel burning anguish that this will be it. That this will be the time you will not return to me again. I cannot even name all the gods I give thanks to, every time you wake up.”, Yusuf prattled out, slightly taken aback by his own monologue.

Nicolo only looked at him, again. Imploring him to continue speaking fears and truths he had no energy to explain but felt the deep need to explore, satiate before succumbing to the greedy grasp of sleep.

“But we are here now. Again. Together. That is all I can beg the gods for, all I need to feel like the luckiest man to ever walk this earth. I do not want to burden my mind with the horrors of the past any longer. I only want to hold you till the end of time, thinking about how much I love you and how to fill the rest of our days with your smile and radiance. That thought will be enough to drive away the past. Now rest, my Nicolo. Give in to the sleep and recover quickly. I will be next to you when you wake up.”, Yusuf assured.

Nicolo reached forward, seemingly a herculean task for the immortal soldier, and pressed a chaste kiss onto Yusuf’s lips.

“Hey, we have all the time in the world to satiate you later. Sleep now.”, Yusuf teased.

Nicolo, in his defence tried to give a reassuring smile but it looked more like a pained grimace before he fell asleep again, dark circles painted under his eyes, fatigue radiating off his prone figure.

He watched as Nicolo settled into a deeper sleep but no longer dared to take his eyes off him again. The IV would have been ripped out if Yusuf was a few seconds later than he was. He pulled up a chair next to Nicolo and began his watch.

\--

Yusuf released the breath he did not realise he was holding onto. Watching Nicolo rest, albeit covered in sweat, gave him more solace than a century of meditation could offer. No matter how sire the situation was, a little conversation with his sweet Nicolo could move mountains off his chest in an instance. Just the small kiss was enough to reinvigorate Yusuf to fight another battle.

Nicolo’s body racked with a shiver severe enough to break Yusuf out of his thoughts.

His temperature was definitely rising as Yusuf felt his forehead with the back of his hand. Yusuf fought the urge to go wake up the doctor sleeping a few rooms away. She had assured Yusuf that they would have conclusive results on Nicolo’s blood by the morning and all they could do till then was to administer fever reducing medication and keep him comfortable.

A low groan escaped Nicolo’s pale, chapped lips as shivers raced through his body.

“Yusuf.”, Nicolo groaned as he shook.

“I’m here, Nicolo. Just focus on my voice and stay with me, alirhgt? I am right here, baby.”, Yusuf pleaded. He was desperate to go and rouse the doctor but could not bear the thought of leaving Nicolo alone, suffering.

“Stop! Get off him! No! Leave us! Stop!”, Nicolo gasped out in the grips of his fever dreams.

“Mi amor, it is just us. Please baby you need to stay strong now!” Yusuf begged, looking around to find some way to rouse the doctor. They could not let Nicolo just suffer like this till morning. Yusuf could not fathom leaving his side for even an instance considering that Nicolo was very likely to rip out the multiple medical appendages attached to him.

He once again, trapped Nicolo’s arms under his torso and cupped his face, hoping that his touch would grant Nicolo some comfort.

“I’m here, my love. No one to hurt you here. Just hold on, baby. It’ll be okay soon.”, Yusuf implored.

He only sat back once he felt like Nicolo had fallen deeper in sleep and was no longer groaning protests under his breath. Yusuf calmly watched as the shivers declined over the next hour or so.

On the brink of dawn, the worst seemed behind them. Nicolo’s temperature was still soaring, seemingly rising every now and then but he was no longer shivering.

Yusuf startled as Nicolo’s voice filled the room.

“Yusef, cold.”, Nicolo groaned.

Yusuf paused in his administration of the rag across his lover’s forehead.

“No baby, you are too warm. Your temperature is raging.”, Yusuf said, pain squeezing his heart.

“I’ll stop the cool water for a bit though. Hey!” Yusuf exclaimed as Nicolo opened his eyes.

His joy at seeing his loved one awake was short lived. Nicolo’s eyes rolled back into the back of his head and his entire left side started seizing while the machines attached to him, wrecked a cacophony onto Yusuf’s senses.


	4. Chapter 4

The last thing Nicolo saw was Yusuf’s face before everything went completely blurry. He did not know much of anything after that.

When he came to, he was on his side, Yusuf’s arms were tightly gripping his own to his chest.

His voice, more fearful than Nicolo had ever heard, whispering into his ear. “Nicolo, baby, please. Wake up. I need you here with me. Please Nicolo.”, Yusuf was murmuring, subconsciously switching from Italian to Urdu and then English.

He could not see Nicolo’s face, he was hugging his in an iron grip from behind. Nicolo was so tired that he almost fell asleep to the comforting sound of his loved one’s voice but the fear radiating from Yusuf pushed him to reassure him before succumbing.

“Sono qui.”, Nicolo whispered with all the strength he had left, trying to twist around in his grip to reassure Yusuf better.

“He’s awake! Nicky, thank heavens! You are here!”, Yusuf practically sobbed.

Nicolo’s vision was still very blurry. He could vaguely make out a small figure pressing cold metal onto his skin, Yusuf’s arms still around him as he shivered from it’s icy temperature.

“Shift your hands, Joe.”, The figure spoke.

Nicolo could not make out anything more than a vague outline before he was gently moved around for.

“Nicky, can you hear me? Do you know where you are?”, the female voice asked.

Nicolo could barely manage a groan before inky darkness pulled him to rest, once again.

\--

“He’s fine for now. I’ve doubled the dosage for fever reducing medication and fluids to prevent dehydration. The seizure was triggered by the high temperature. But I’ve some dire news, Joe. His bloodwork indicates the presence of this novel virus. The closest I have ever heard of it is a designer virus being developed for biological warfare.”

Yusuf felt his heart sink. Looks like Merrick had left a deeper impact on them than initially anticipated.

“Are you sure, doctor?” He pushed.

“The results are clear, Joe. Someone injected this designer virus into his bloodstream. I don’t have the ability to synthesis a cure with the samples I drew from his blood. And it will take years to make one even if I had enough samples and all the expensive laboratories in the world.”

“What’s the next step for us?”

“Would you happen to know where he got the virus from? Maybe we can go to the police? The people who did this might have some answers?”

“Doctor, Nicky was just on his way back from some mission while on active duty for the government. The police is going to find it easier to just silence us rather than help us find a solution. That’s why I could not even take him to a hospital when he got back.” Yusuf lied easily. After a millennium of maintaining cover, he could spin such stories with great conviction and genuineness.

“Is there anything we can do without exposing him to the government?”

“We keep fighting the symptoms and hope that we do it for long enough for his body develops immunity on its own. However, let me be honest with you. His body is already exhausted. The seizures are only going to get more recurrent and cause more damage. If you remain reluctant to get more help than I can provide, we do not stand a particularly good chance of saving his life. His fever is trying to boil his brain as we speak.”

“Give me a little time to think, doctor.”, Yusuf implored.

“Sure. Here’s a panic button if his condition changes even a little bit.”, said Dr. Jadhav before leaving Yusuf outside the tiny room with Nicolo resting in it.

The second the doctor was out of earshot, Yusuf pulled out his phone.

“Hello, Andy? Are you still near London? I need you to pay a visit to our old mouse lab again”

\--

Andy and Nile dropped through the air vent into the government evidence room.

Yusuf’s call was precise but urgent. They needed to retrieve all the material possible to cure Nicolo.

Andy would have just suggested to let Nicolo die, since they were, y’now immortal. He would pop back up, good as new. As a matter of fact, she would help speed up the process if need be. Making Nicolo suffer seemed pointless. She had herself killed herself multiple times when impatient with a mortal illness, feeling brand new when she woke up again. But she knew that her newfound mortality had done a number on the couple. Yusuf would wage a war against anyone who would suggest killing Nicolo, even if it meant something like this, Andy mused as she and Nile followed the instructions Copley had carefully planned.

Nile sharply signalled to her as she found a case full of vials, just like Copley had said they would.

Andy nodded back curtly as Nile stashed them under her gear. Quickly, smoothly, they snuck out through the same way they entered the room.

\--

“Nicolo, baby, just hold on a few more hours for me, my love. Andy and Nile are on their way here. They are confident that they have found the cure in their search.”, Yusuf whispered as he gently stroked his face gently.

Nicolo was drenched in sweat, lost to the world. He had another seizure since Yusuf called Andy. Dr. Jadhav was present when he broke into his fit and immedieatly injected medicines into his thigh with the thickest needle Yusuf had ever seen. The bruise it left took too long to fade. Yusuf felt like he was being suffocated till the bruise started to fade.

Yusuf was confident that Andy would turn up with the solution. She always had. Even mortal, she was still their leader, for good reason. She and Nile had promised to race across the world, even taking time to keep him informed about their efforts. Yusuf was confident that there was light at the end of the tunnel, that they would be able to save Nicolo without testing his immortality, a gamble Yusuf was no longer willing to take. He just had to make Nicolo hold on till they arrived.

Dr. Jadhav had a permanent frown on her face. She did not believe that they could save Nicolo in her clinic but she seemed to trust Yusuf when he insisted that Nicolo’s chance of surviving were a lot higher under her care. She and Yusuf were working around the clock, barely taking a break from tending to Nicolo. She was constantly noting his temperature, changing his IV fluids and monitoring his vitals. She was worried that he could slip into a coma within the next day or so.

Nicolo lay oblivious to the world around him. Yusuf was tormented to see his Nicolo suffer so. He was immune to the suffering Yusuf was witnessing but it was clear that his fever dreams were not kind to him. Nicolo had tossed,turned, begged and prayed through the grips of his fever. Yusuf hadn’t heard the words of god and religion from Nicolo’s lips in many centuries. Whatever his dreams were showing him, Nicolo seemed more tortured than Yusuf had seen in a long time.

“No.”, Nicolo moaned. “Leave him, take me instead.”, continued the Italian man.

Yusuf ached to see Nicolo toil and prayed to a million gods thankful for their immortality. No matter how hopeless the ailment seemed, he knew in the back of his mind, that his Nicolo will pull through and wake up again. He could not imagine what he would go through if there was a good chance if his loved one would not wake up again. If he knew that these fevered words and moans were the last his loved one would ever speak, Yusuf would have surely been driven mad. For all the curses of immortality, the uncertainty it brought into their life, he was glad, that there was always a chance that his beloved Nicolo would return to him and that hope was going to get him through the next few hours as the fever took a more gruelling grip over his Nicolo.

“I’m here, amore mio. Please have faith. Hold on. Fight for us and come back to me, my love.” Yusuf begged.

The moan of pain that escaped Nicolo’s chapped lips cut through Yusuf’s heart like a hot knife.

“Baby, do not give in. Fight. Come back to me alright? You can fight this, my love.”, Yusuf implored as he stroked Nicolo, trying everything he can to comfort the shivering man through his fever.

Nicolo grew still under his ministrations as he comes to.

“Dios mio, baby, I’m glad to see you open your eyes. You’ve been asleep for almost a whole day.”, Yusuf celebrated as Nicolo watched him with tired eyes. Yusuf brought a glass with water and a straw to Nicolo’s lips. His beloved looked emaciated in a couple of days after the fever ravaged his body.

“Resting?”, Nicolo managed, his voice still horribly cracking.

“Am I resting, mio amore? I am. How are you feeling?”

“Tired.”, Nicolo whispered.

“You must be, my love. You endured two seizures in less than a day. Your temperature has been the lowest at 102 degrees at the least. But you must hold on my love. Andy and Nile are on the way. They have managed to procure the medicine for your ailment. They’ll be here shortly, mio amore.”, Yusuf rushed to inform him.

He had only been granted a few minutes of Nicolo’s lucidity. He raised the glass to his lips again. He remembered that having seizures was always harsh on the throat and mouth. Nicolo could barely manage a few sips before he settled heavily against the pillows and watched Yusuf through half closed eyes.

“Nicolo, can you hear me, my love?” Nicolo only nodded, minutely.

“Alright. Do you want some more water? Maybe something like soup? We should try to increase your strength.” Yusuf implored, suddenly unsure of what to do to comfort his precious Nicolo.

All Nicolo could manage was a small no. He looked so exhausted.

Yusuf just moved closer and stroked his scalp gently, eager to just see Nicolo’s eyes half open.

Unable to contain his anxiousness anymore, Yusuf rattled out some of his favourite memories from their many visits to America and the plans he had in mind for their time here, switching languages and tones. His beloved was too sick to talk so Yusuf filled the space for them.


	5. Chapter 5

Nicolo took a few more sips of water and listened to Yusuf talk, occasionally blinking or nodding to assure him that he was listening. His beloved Yusuf looked so unlike his usual jovial self and full of worry and toil. Nicolo pushed himself to stay awake as long as possible, in the hope to reassure his loved one.

Yusuf rearranged his blankets, wiped the sweat off his face and helped him finish a glass of water in a short span of time. Nicolo could feel his helplessness and anxiousness roll off Yusuf. He wanted to assure him that he will wake up again even if he succumbs to the illness but after seeing Andy, he could no longer say those words truthfully.

Nicolo soaked in the glimpses of his Yusuf through tired eyes. Even after a thousand years, the sight of this man filled him with incomprehensible happiness and warmth.

The sight of him was just enough.

He smiled as much as he could manage when Yusuf rested a cool rag on his forehead and cupped his face again. Nicolo had the callouses on his Yusuf’s hands memorised, feeling them against his fevered skin was a reprieve he did not deserve.

“Are you comfortable, baby?”, Yusuf asked with gentleness and love a sinner like Nicolo was immeritorious to receive.

Again, all Nicolo could manage was a tired nod. Yusuf continued telling him about the different types of American food he was going to indulge him with once they reached Maine as a shiver ran through Nicolo’s body.

\--

Andy and Nile filed out their immigration forms as the flight landed. They needed to get the vials of medicine through immigration as quickly as possible. Andy quickly shot Copley a text telling him that they are going to be headed out of the airport soon. Nile silently nodded at Andy to get ready to sneak the precious cure out.

Andy was not amused to run across the globe for a problem that could be solved by something they’ve done thousands of times. However, Yusuf was more desperate on every passing phone call and Andy just could not help but do whatever it took to help. Besides, it served as a good training exercise for Nile. The old guards were not just soldiers but also masters of espionage.

Andy suppressed a proud smile as Nile swiftly got the bag housing th medicine through immigration and security check points without batting an eye.

She did, however, smile tooth to tooth, flagging a cab when she was confident that Nile could not see her.

\--

Shivers ran through Nicolo constantly until they suddenly stopped.

He looked at Yusuf and could manage to stammer out a single word.

“Sick.”

Yusuf, to his credit, took less than a few seconds to ease Nicolo into a sitting position and slide a waste bin in his lap.

Nicolo threw up the tiny of glass Yusuf had painstakingly helped him consume just in time to spare a huge mess. When he finishes, he looks at Yusuf, confusion clouding his mind. He suddenly felt like he floating and so cold. He was just so cold. The bearded man in front of him was holding him up as retched for the last time.

The man moved the bucket from Nicolo’s lap. Nicolo lays back down, all adrenaline leaving him in an instant.

Nicolo stared at the ceiling for a minute before a tinge of yellow leaked through his vision. His mouth filled up with a metallic taste and his eyes rolled back into his head.

Nicolo felt every muscle in his body contract. The contraction was too tight to bear. He wanted to scream out in pain but his jaw was locked. He struggled to breathe as the contraction did not ease. Every muscle was on fire. The muscles relaxed for a split second to contract too quickly. It was degrees above agony as the cycle repeated over and again. He could not breath, it was too much. He just wanted it to stop.

\--

Andy knew that they were about an hour and a half away from the location Yusuf shared when a car crashed into the side of their cab. She was sitting on the other end, out of harm’s way and ducked just in time to protect herself from the rain of glass that showered upon them.

Nile on the other hand did not fare so well. Andy winced as the young marine;s neck snapped on impact as her head bounced off the side of the car. Andy had been in enough accidents to know the sound of a fatal one.

Luckily for her, she ran a squad of immortals who took about a minute to jump back into action again.

Ever the over-achieving marine, Nile was already pushing her bones back into place rather than waiting for them to stitch together by themselves.

“Andy! Are you okay? We need to leave before the paramedics turn up!”, Nile exclaimed.

Andy was already kicking her door open and walking into the crowd, pulling a cap over her short hair.

\--

Yusuf watched helplessly as Dr. Jadhav pushed him out of the way and pushes the injection with seizure medication into Nicolo’s thigh. The fits seizing him slowed down and Yusuf got a glass of water ready and waits for Nicolo to wake up.

However, for the first time, Nicolo did not rouse after the seizure stopped. Dr. Jadhav rounded the bed and started checking the heart monitors attached to him to check his vitals. Minutes pass as Yusuf waits, like he has too many times in the last nine hundred years, holding his breath, scouring for any movement.

Nicolo opens his eyes after too long. Dr. Jadhav leans over him to flash a small light into his eyes. Yusuf can feel himself talking, begging Nicolo to come to but has no comprehension of what he is saying anymore. He knew, the second Nicolo opened his eyes and did not look for Yusuf, that something was amiss. His eyes were unseeing, half lidded.

Nicolo starts seizing again.

Dr. Jadhav yells instructions at Yusuf as she tries to hold Nicolo still, as he rides out the second fit. The medical machines raging with a vengeance in the background.

The seizure slows down. The machines attached to Nicolo continue their cacophony. For the first time, the screens start changing from green to bright red. Too bright for Yusuf to function under. A paralyzing red.

Dr. Jadhav jumps onto the bed, practically straddling Nicolo when she starts doing chest compressions.

“Joe! Snap out of it! Turn that nozzle and increase the oxygen flow!”, she yelled.

Yusuf finally jumps into action and races to the oxygen cylinders by his bed.

\--

Andy and Nile turn the corner and race through the streets. Yusuf had not answered any phone calls or texts in an hour or so.

Andy knew that Nicolo’s health must have taken a turn for the worse.

She knew that nothing dire would come of it. However, urgency rushed through her veins. She knew that she had to reach soon.

“Andy, I think this is it!”, Nile exclaimed.

She was good, much better than any of them ever were Andy noted proudly.

\--

Nicolo finally pulled a shallow breathe by himself. Yusuf could no longer stop a few tears of relief racing to hide in his beard.

Dr. Jadhav took support of Yusuf’s shoulders to carefully ease of the bed and climb down.

The heart monitor strapped to Nicolo’s chest showed a painfully slow pulse.

“If we don’t do something soon Joe, we have hours maybe minutes before it’s too late.”

“I know, doctor. My friends should be here soon to help.”

“I don’t understand. Why would someone who created a killer virus also develop the cure for it?”

“To make great profits when the world is most desperate for it, I guess.”

“But what if it’s a trap?”

“Could be. But what option do we have, doctor? My associates mentioned finding multiple logs. Volumes of research discussing the right time to leverage the global market to make most profits. They even found the scientist’s logs who had injected it into my Nicky.”

“I guess we don’t have a lot of options, Joe. I still highly recommend that we take our chances with the police and call an ambulance now. As Nicolo’s condition deteriorates we will need a ventilator to keep him alive till your friends arrive.”

“Doctor—”

Yusuf was interruppted by two women, in bloody clothes, barge into the clinic doors, with a small case in tow.

\--

“I cannot just inject some vial of murky liquid into his bloodstream, Joe! I will need to at least process it to make sure it’s not lethal or the same virus with a mislabelled vial!”, Dr. Jadhav argued after Andy and Nile produced the yellow liquid filled vial.

Dr. Jadhav was practically fuming as she cleaned the small cuts and bruises on Andy’s face.

She turned to Nile who was covered in blood, rips in her clothes but no wounds.

Nile opened her mouth to produce an excuse when Dr. Jadhav cut her off.

“Yes, Yes, I know! Thrombophilia!”, she scoffed using air quotes to ridicule Yusuf for his thinly veiled lie, shooting him a sharp look. Yusuf did bother to look ashamed.

“We just need to keep him stable, take him to a hospital and wait till I can safely administer this miracle cure.”

Nile opened her mouth to protest when the sound of machines beeping chaotically filled the room. Dr. Jadhav and Yusuf ran back to Nicolo’s bed side as Andy and Nile followed.

Nicolo was seizing again, for the umpteenth time in the last couple of days. Yusuf gently moved him onto his side and held him fast against his chest as Dr. Jadhav was easing different medications into his system to ease the fits.

Nile felt panic rise in her throat like an ugly sickness. She knew that Nicolo would definitely wake up again, he was millennia younger than Andy. He would most likely not lose his immortality anytime soon. However, the sight of the gentle man suffering was difficult to watch. Yusuf seemed anguished beyond reason as held his lover close to his chest.

They eased him onto his back as the seizures slowed down. However, the monitors did not ease up on the cacophony.

Dr. Jadhav and Yusuf exchanged looks before she clambered onto the Italian man’s prone figure and started doing chest compressions as Yusuf increased the oxygen supply through the mask.

After a few minutes of furious efforts, Nicolo was still not breathing, his heartbeat close to flatlining on the monitors.

Dr. Jadhav gestured to start up the electric pads as she did not ease up on the compressions.

Nile looked wildly at Andy, trying to pick up on how to help the situation. Andy was not even paying attention and seemed to be reading the label on the vial they had obtained from the evidence room.

Nile’s attention was caught by the sound of sizzling electricity as Dr. Jadhav pressed down the pads on Nicolo’s bare chest. His back arced painfully under the influence of the charge but few seconds later, his heartbeat picked up on the monitors behind them.

Nile could barely register her own relief, still an amateur to the immortal game, as Nicolo gasped, eyes wide open, trying to breathe in as much as possible after the painful electric shock.

She did not even hear Andy saunter over until the darkhaired woman blocked her vision.

“I’m really sick of this shit.”, Andy murmured quietly. And then in the blink of an eye, she pushed down the sheets and emptied an injection with the murky yellow cure into Nicolo’s bare thigh.

\--

Yusuf rushed into the bedroom with a bowl of steaming soup in his bare hands.

“Nicky, sit up please. Your favourite bone soup is ready. Try to finish the bowl this time, per favour.”

Nicolo groaned as he pushed himself up. He still felt drained, even a week after Andy injected the cure into his leg. Luckily, he had Yusuf, the most thoughtful and nurturing man at his bedside the whole time.

He smiled at the love of his life as he settled heavily against the pillows, bathed in the soft lights of the sunset.

“Bedhead?”, Nicolo asked.

“Nicely tousled.”, Joe chuckled.

-fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please do leave a comment telling me if you liked it or anyway that I can improve! I have two more works in the pipeline and desperate for a beta. Please HMU if you can help. Can find me at tumblr at https://whereeveruare.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for medical and scientific inaccuracies. I am merely trying to fill the void of romance in my life by pouring it into this plot and have no understanding of the science and medicine that the plot involves. Please take the time to leave a review.


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